Intentions to Marry, 1919 Martinborough to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840484, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919d contains pages 1503-2000, covering districts from Martinborough to Wellington

Page 1593

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar C. E. Shortt

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

117

11 August 1919

Olaf Robert Warner Smith
Ruby Shadbolt

Olaf Robert Warner Smith
Ruby Shadbolt
💍 1919/6510

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
19

Palmerston North
Pohangina

14 days
17 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5965

Henry Shadbolt, Father

11 August 1919

Rev F. M. Kempthorne Anglican

No	117
Date of Notice	11 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Olaf Robert Warner Smith	Ruby Shadbolt
	💍 1919/6510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Pohangina
Length of Residence	14 days	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5965
Consent	Henry Shadbolt, Father
Date of Certificate	11 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F. M. Kempthorne Anglican

118

11 August 1919

Thomas Theodore Tingey
Daisy Ellen Harrison

Thomas Theodore Tingey
Daisy Ellen Harrison
💍 1919/6511

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic

27
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

8 months
15 months

Residence of W. N. Tingey 12 College Terrace Palmerston North

5966

11 August 1919

Mr H. Grinstead Church of Christ

No	118
Date of Notice	11 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Theodore Tingey	Daisy Ellen Harrison
	💍 1919/6511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. N. Tingey 12 College Terrace Palmerston North
Folio	5966
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr H. Grinstead Church of Christ

119

15 August 1919

James Egan
Irene Gertrude Best

James Egan
Irene Gertrude Best
💍 1919/6513

Bachelor
Spinster

Monumental Worker
Domestic

34
29

Palmerston North
Kairanga

33 years
19 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5967

15 August 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

No	119
Date of Notice	15 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Egan	Irene Gertrude Best
	💍 1919/6513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Monumental Worker	Domestic
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Kairanga
Length of Residence	33 years	19 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5967
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

120

16 August 1919

Horatio Karl Laurenson
Marion Gwynnyth Baxter

Horatio Karl Laurenson
Marion Gwynnyth Baxter
💍 1919/6514

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Pianist

24
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 months
11 months

Registrars Office Palmerston North

5968

William Baxter, Father

16 August 1919

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	120
Date of Notice	16 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horatio Karl Laurenson	Marion Gwynnyth Baxter
	💍 1919/6514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Pianist
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	11 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	5968
Consent	William Baxter, Father
Date of Certificate	16 August 1919
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

121

19 August 1919

Adolphus Stanley Caldwell
Alice Minnie Mann

Adolphus Stanley Caldwell
Alice Minnie Mann
💍 1919/6515

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Shop assistant

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
19 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5969

19 August 1919

Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

No	121
Date of Notice	19 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adolphus Stanley Caldwell	Alice Minnie Mann
	💍 1919/6515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Shop assistant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5969
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).